


Into The Dark

by HeyMrJack



Category: Destiny (Video Games), RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2019-09-29 23:28:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17212862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeyMrJack/pseuds/HeyMrJack
Summary: Shin Malphur. The man with The Golden Gun, slayer of Dredgen Yor has been given a mission by The Vanguard. Sylas, an excellent bladedancer has joined with The Shadows Of Yor and in doing so constructed a sword that drains Guardian's of their light upon slaying them. He slayed several Guardians and then escaped. The Vanguard tasked Shin with hunting this Shadow down and end him. But what happens when the trail to Sylas leads him to a planet with secrets that should have been best kept locked?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, HeyMrJack is here. This time with ANOTHER RWBY/Destiny fic.
> 
> In regards to Back To The Light, i've read the reviews (on Fanfic.net anyway). Obviously, people don't like it and i'm willing to cancel it because of that- I wanted to write a RWBYXDestiny fic from the get-go, a good one at that and I intend to do it, one way or another. Plan A didn't work, so i'm going with Plan B. I've liked Shin Malphur for a good damn while, I like this character and really I just like everything about the guy and I thought I could try writing Plan B with him in mind instead of a Guardian who cries like a little bitch cause his friends got wrekt by Aksis.
> 
> Anyways, hope you all enjoy!

Shin Malphur was a legend.

He was the man who killed Dredgen Yor, and was the man who perfected the Gunslinger, and in doing so, it made him a legend. He had accumulated millions of kills with his trusty hand cannon only known as The Last Word and his amazing powers of the light alone. He had killed hundreds of Fallen Barons, thousands of Hive Knights and Princes, and he took on the most fierce Cabal gladiators and won.

Yet here he was, sitting in some backwater bar near The Last City wearing not his standard armor, but instead a pair of dirty blue jeans and a duster. He already felt like Hell, it was even worse that he couldn't have his best friend, his Ghost right beside him as he drank.

"What's your poison, bud?" The bartender asked. Shin only pointed at a bottle of whiskey and the bartender nodded, grabbing the bottle and began pouring a shot in a glass.

 _"The informant is close,"_ Shin's Ghost, which Jaren had named Texas said.

"You got a reading on who it is?" The Hunter only asked.

 _"You're not gonna like it,"_ Texas said.

"Just tell me, Tex."

 _"Cayde-6,"_ The machine only said. The Hunter groaned in response, every time he needed something from The Vanguard, the bastards always sent Cayde.

That's why he was here, he needed information. The kind of information that regular Guardian's shouldn't be asking, but Shin? Well, he was a special Guardian. Not just because of the fact that he was a "legendary gunslinger" but because he did The Vanguard's dirty work, the kind that The Speaker and the rest of The Vanguard made sure that no other Guardian and citizen of The City would ever know about.

"Bad day or somethin bud?" The bartender questioned. Shin looked at the bartender and spoke,

"It's about to be... care to leave the bottle?" He asked. The older looking man nodded and simply left the bottle of whiskey on the table.

The doors soon were kicked open, and out stood The Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6.

"Heeeelllooooo, Ranger! Are ya here, buddy?" The Hunter cried out.

"God dammit..." Shin muttered as he quickly drank the shot of whiskey. It didn't take long for Cayde to see his "friend."

"Ranger!" Cayde shouted as he ran over to his friend and quickly sat by Shin who did his best not to make another groan.

"Cayde... please, stop." He muttered.

"Oh come on, why? Not like everyone's looking!" Cayde said. However, the Exo Guardian was wrong, because everyone was staring at them.

"OK, OK... my bad." He said.

"Let's make this quick..." Shin said. Cayde nodded, and for once, during the well... god knows how many years Shin had lived, there was a serious look on the exo's face.

"Everything alright?" The Gunslinger questioned.

"No, actually..." The Hunter responded.

"Yeah, I got information for ya... but you're gonna be gone for a while, and you're _really_ not going to like this."

"Hit me,"

"This guy is, yes, a Shadow Of Yor. He's probably the worst The Vanguard has had to deal with..." Cayde explained, and he soon summoned Sundance, his Ghost which began projecting an image. It was a man in Hunter attire, but the colors of his armor were dark black and dark green, and the helmet had a bright green glowing visor with three eyes resembling The Hive.

"Who is he?" Shin asked.

"His name was once Sylas, a good Hunter too. You woulda liked him if he wasn't a follower of Yor... now, he just goes by Dredgen Timor." The Hunter explained and then continued,

"He made a sword, Shin. The awful kind of sword, the sword that The Cryptarch's are comparing to Crota's sword, and he's become corrupted by it. Destroyed his Ghost, and then killed two teams of Guardian's in The Crucible. After that, he went out of his way to destroy a few of Shaxx's Redjacks, took his ship and then flew off to God knows where."

"You're shitting me..." Shin said.

"I wish," Cayde said as he watched Shin take another drink of the whiskey.

"I managed to get his last known coordinates thanks to a good Awoken friend of mine, which by the way if you see Petra Venj? You better thank her," The Exo said. Shin chuckled at the statement and nodded.

"Anything else?" He asked.

"The trip is gonna take a good damn while, Timor has already gotten a big head start on you. I don't know what he's doing heading to this place, but I doubt it's gonna be any good. I also went ahead and moved a bunch of equipment into your ship." Cayde said.

"Why? I'm not gonna need it, or use it." Shin said.

"Just incase. I don't know what Timor has in store... but whatever it is? It aint good,"

Shin only sighed and nodded.

"Alrighty then... thanks for the tip," Shin said as he put a small pile of glimmer on the bar and nodded at the bartender.

"Thanks for the drink, pal." He said as he got up from his seat.

"Aye, Ranger!"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful," Cayde said as he then left.

"Now I'm gonna go to prison! Waaahooooooo!" The Vanguard shouted as he then transmatted himself away.

 _"For a Hunter... he's very..."_ Texas said as he began thinking of the right word to say.

"Weird, I know, Texas." Shin said.

_"I know..."_

_**FIVE YEARS LATER** _

Shin Malphur sat in a bar, there he sat calmly, drinking his whiskey and being patient as ever, though he didn't really have his favorite drinking buddy with him. Everyone would freak out if they saw Texas floating about.

"Anything come up, yet?" He asked Texas, using his earpiece to communicate with The Ghost.

" _Nothing... nothing has come up about any rituals or any hive markings in three standard years,"_ The Ghost responded. Shin sighed as he rubbed his temples, taking another shot of whiskey and asked,

"How long have we been on this planet?" The Hunter only asked.

 _"Five standard years,"_ Shin could only sigh again and looked at the barkeep, signaling him to just leave the bottle of whiskey that was in front of him. He nodded and put it down.

Shin Malphur was on the planet of Remnant, this planet was where Sylas, otherwise known as Dredgen Timor was last seen. He had been on the planet for a good damn while, and left destruction in his wake. There had been several rituals that had been cast, many men, women, and even children died for what appeared to be rituals- rituals that were Hive in origin. Whatever Sylas was doing here, it wasn't good. However, it appeared that Timor had vanished- off the face of this rock.

"Anything you could pick up? Maybe he left on his ship,"

_"If that were the case, I would have picked up readings."_

Shin poured the whiskey into the shot glass and simply lifted the shot glass and drank it.

"Alrighty... guess we're still doing this then," He said.

_"So it seems, Mr. Outlaw."_

"Shut up, little light." Shin responded. He hated being called that, it sounded so ridiculous...

But The Ghost wasn't wrong, on this planet? Shin Malphur was an outlaw going by the name "The Gunslinger." It fit him really, considering the fact that the only weapon he was still using was The Last Word.

_"Roman and Neopolitan have arrived,"_

Wonderful, thought Shin as he drank another shot of whiskey. It was time to get this job rolling, Roman had hired him for a job he wanted to do with him, and it was a lot of lien on the line so... Shin said yeah, he could use more cash for this planet considering the fact that Glimmer wasn't a currency here. The doors soon opened and in stepped a man in a white trench coat and wore a black and red bowler hat which covered his orange hair. Beside him was a much shorter girl with pink and brown hair, she wore a white outfit and the most noticeable thing was her eyes- she had heterochromia, and had a pink eye and also a brown eye. Shin only signaled the two over to his position and they simply walked over towards him

"Well, Gunslinger... it's been a good while." Roman spoke as he walked over towards him, cane in hand.

"A pleasure to see you both," Shin only said as he reached for his back pocket and whipped out a coupon and handed it to Neo.

"Two free ice cream cones, for you oh lethal assassin." He said. The girl smiled, a wide joyful smile which Shin couldn't help but smile at. Roman also smiled and proceeded to put a cigar in his mouth, and Shin noticed this. Using his powers with the light, he simply lit the cigar in his employer's mouth.

"Ah, Shin... that's what I like about you, pal. You know how to make a man feel welcomed," Roman complimented.

"I try to keep my clients happy," The Hunter only said.

"Well... speaking of clients and employers. Let's talk about the job, shall we?" Roman questioned. The Gunslinger nodded as he took another shot of whisky.

"Indeed, let's."

"We just need your help robbing a dust store, I need competent men. Huntsmen and Huntresses have been on our asses for days, I need a good man who's competent, the White Fang guys and Junior's boys are freaking useless-"

"Wait, did you say White Fang?" Shin questioned.

Roman nodded and there was silence between the three, with Shin taking an occasional shot of whiskey.

"The hell have you been up to, Romeo?" He asked.

"Something for an employer of mine... the less you know, the better."

Shin nodded and stared at Roman, with a look that would set a coward ablaze.

"Does it have anything to do with my target?" Shin sternly asked.

"No, it has nothing to do with your shadow... I think, anyway. I honestly don't know, but if it does..."

"Well, Shin. You're going to have a hell of a time on your hands, pal." Roman said. Shin nodded once again.

"Continue about the job, what are we going to be hitting?"

"Simple, we're going to be hitting a small dust shop, and despite it being small... well, it has a shitload of dust. It's called Dust Before Dawn, and we're going to be taking _all_ of the dust. No lien, understand?" Roman asked.

"Just the dust?"

Roman nodded and Shin could only sigh, he wondered what the hell had Roman gotten himself into, but he wasn't going to push the man. He'd find out eventually.

He always would.

"I've managed to convince my employer to take you along, if you actually do accept this offer. We'll have a getaway vehicle be The Bullhead. Don't worry and don't care about the rest of the guys, they're all Junior's and to be honest? They aren't worth even a cent of lien." The crime boss said, and Shin nodded again.

"I'll accept it... if the pay is right," Shin said.

"It will be, trust me. My employer is loaded, and also a word of warning..." Roman muttered.

"Don't get on her bad side, Shin. She has abilities that you've never seen in your entire lifetime, you can count on that."

"Abilities I haven't seen, eh? I'll keep that in mind," Shin spoke. Roman sighed as he then got up and shook his head.

"Just don't fuck up and don't fuck around, got it?"

"I got it, I got it..." The Outlaw said.

"Good, i'll send the message of the meeting place to your scroll, we'll go over the plan and then head out." Roman said as he then began to leave. Neo smiled at Shin, not her usual psychotic smile- the smile that she has when she's about to kill someone, but a nice warm smile. The girl then hugged Shin, a way of saying thanks for the coupon, and then vanished.

"Abilities i've never seen before, eh?" He asked.

 _"Could it be another Guardian?"_ Texas asked

"I don't know, Remnant has had a lot of weird things going on, Tex. From semblances, to spiritual energy shields... anything can happen," Shin said.

"True, but if it's a Guardian..."

 _"Then it could be a link to Dredgen Timor,"_ The Ghost interjected. The Hunter nodded as he took his shot of whiskey and then left.

_**ONE DAY**_ _**LATER** _

"The dust, _now_." Shin Malphur demanded as he aimed The Last Word at the old man.

The Hunter hated doing this, he genuinely hating harming or threatening innocent people but... he had to be an Outlaw, this job was potentially the only thing that could get him closer to finding Dredgen Timor. Some scumbag would know where the rogue Hunter was at, these things would always happen.

"You are all taking it," He replied, scared out of his mind.

"Bullshit, I know you got more old man. Hand it over, and I won't harm you." The Hunter ordered. The old man nodded as he opened a cabinet, and pulled out several dust crystals. Shin opened up a bag and had the old man dump the crystals into the sack.

"Thank you, sir. Now, just lay low and we'll leave shortly." He said, holstering his hand cannon. His job was going to be done, a very easy gig that was for sure... Shin couldn't see why Roman needed him, but whatever. Money was money at the end of the day, right?

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" A man screamed and soon one of Junior's henchmen was kicked into a window, and soon even more were thrown out.

"God dammit," The Hunter said with a sigh as he drew The Last Word. He was going to be in for a fight, whether he liked it or not.

The young girl soon pulled out a weapon, a large crimson scythe, and as Shin got a closer look in... he couldn't help but be reminded of the Hunters from Earth, their nice long cloaks and hoods that they would always wear. Hers was a red cloak, and along that she wore a black and red outfit and she had crimson hair and bright silver eyes.

She began tearing through the men, easily knocking them out with no problem using her scythe, their auras sure as hell couldn't take the blows that the young girl was giving them, meaning that he would have to be called in.

"Well, Little Red... sorry to say, but this is where our meeting ends." Roman said. He then made a gesture, and Shin only blinked towards the two, and charged at the younger girl, Last Word in hand. She swung her scythe horizontally but Shin only ducked and then jumped, slamming his feet into the girl and landing gracefully. He then swung the butt of Last Word into the girl's chin and twirled it. He took aim and fan fired the powerful hand cannon, the first three rounds hit her but the young girl used her scythe to deflect the other five. The Hunter only reloaded and Roman grabbed his partner by the shoulder.

"Let's go, we can't waste our time on this girl." He ordered. Shin nodded in response, as he fled with Roman to the Bullhead and the mob boss took aim at the little girl with his cane and fired, hoping to further the distance between the three. The two criminals then began heading up to the top of a building, where the getaway vehicle rested but the young girl with the red cloak continued after them at an alarming rate.

"She's fast..." Shin remarked.

"Yes, yes, yes, she's fast." Roman spoke. The bullhead soon arrived, descending towards the two. Roman quickly entered first, and Shin simply jumped in.

"Also, what the hell was that back there? I've never seen you move that fast," The mob boss said.

"Less you know, the better." The Hunter said. As Roman was about to respond, the young girl jumped on top of the building and stared at the two criminals and interjected.

"Hey!" She shouted, glaring at the two. Shin smiled under his helmet and looked at the girl.

"Hay's for horses, little lady!" He responded. The younger girl looked confused but Roman spoke again.

"You're persistent, little red! But sadly, it's past your bed time so..." He said as he threw a fire dust crystal at the building.

"Roman, she's just a kid!" The outlaw said, knowing what would happen. The fight that happened earlier probably drained her, a dust explosion, plus combined with Roman's flare would really harm her, maybe even kill her.

"Night, Red!" The mob boss said, ignoring his friend. He fired the flare gun at the crystal and soon a massive explosion erupted, slightly shaking the bullhead a little. Shin stared at his former friend, wide eyed.

"What the hell's gotten into you, dammit?" He shouted grabbing Roman by the shoulders. The Bullhead was soon shaking once again and the two stared. The Hunter looked outside, hoping to find out what was going on and soon saw a well known Huntress and let go of his partner.

"Glynda Goodwitch!" Shouted Shin Malphur as he stared at her.

 _"It appears the young girl is still alive,"_ Texas noted from within Shin's helmet.

"Listen ma'am... I don't want things to get ugly, and I don't want anymore violence." The Hunter pleaded.

"Give back the dust you stole, and i'll consider it." Demanded Goodwitch.

"Can't do that ma'am," Shin said.

"Then I won't let you leave," The Huntress said.

"We got a Huntress!" Shouted Roman. The pilot soon got out of the cockpit and went to Shin's side, with Roman taking the controls. The Hunter got a good look at the woman, and he had to admit.. she was gorgeous. She had pale skin, and elegant long dark hair and amber eyes. She wore a red dress which matched her stunning good looks. Fire erupted from her fingertips, and she was throwing fireballs at the opponents, an act which made Shin's eyes widen just a little. He was surprised by this ability, he'd never seen anyone do this before, well except for a few Warlock's but they were..

"Another Guardian?" Shin muttered.

 _"No... she posses the light but there's so little of it, like a tiny sliver that she's managed to tap into."_ Texas said.

Glynda was countering back, performing abilities with her crop and dust- it was a battle of dust and light, with both of them being equal terms. It was a beautiful light show, with Glynda using ice dust to target the Bullhead, and the pilot using her unique abilities from blasting balls of fire, to turning solid objects into hardened magma and throwing it back at her opponent. Shin simply decided that it was time to make the odds of victory better and placed his hand on his ally's shoulder.

"Ma'am, stand back... Roman brought me here for a reason, and I don't intend to be useless." He said.

"Of course," She said rather calmly.

Shin then drew The Last Word once again, and put his solar energy into the hand cannon. He took aim at the woman and began firing, two rounds were fired at a quick pace, but she managed to defend herself with them using debris that she managed to grab using her semblance, telekinesis. Using the third and final round of his Golden Gun, he fired at the ground creating a small explosion which broke the guard of Glynda, sending her back only a bit but it was good enough to where the Bullhead began flying off. Shin only took The Last Word, reloaded it and then holstered it.

"My... that was a rather fine ability of yours," The woman said.

"Thank you, ma'am."

"You're... The Gunslinger, I take it?" She asked. Shin's response was only a nod and the woman smiled, gently caressing his chest plate.

"You're quite the man, Gunslinger." She spoke.

"May I see that weapon of yours?" The employer asked.

Shin knew her game, she was trying to get a good read on him, to know what kind of man he was like.

The man only responded with taking The Last Word out, twirling it and then held it for the woman to take. As she grasped for it, he quickly pulled it back.

"Only, if I get your name." He said. The woman smirked and said,

"Cinder Fall,"

Shin allowed Cinder to take the hand cannon and she examined it thoroughly, caressing the weapon's golden exterior and she seemed amazed by the gun.

"A beautiful weapon... did you make this yourself?" She asked.

"No... my mentor, and adoptive father made it, and gave it to me when he died." The Hunter said.

"I see... your mentor sure knew how to make a weapon, and you seem to have maintained it well, it seems." Cinder responded. She aimed at the wall, testing the weapon out and fired only once, the recoil was powerful and it shocked even the employer, even more surprising to her, there was a hole in the side door of the Bullhead.

"This is quite the amazing weapon," She said and looked at Shin, and gave him the hand cannon back.

"It's perfect for a man such as yourself," She spoke with a sly smile.

"Thank you, ma'am." The Outlaw said as he then took a seat.

"Tell me, Gunslinger... what is your name? Your real name, I mean." Cinder Fall asked, going up to the man and caressing his chest plate. Her amber eyes peered into Shin's helmet.

"Shin," He said without any emotion.

"My name is Shin Malphur,"


	2. Chapter Two

Shin Malphur sat in the warehouse, it was quiet. The only people there were him, Cinder, and Roman as well as a younger boy and girl. The girl had dark skin and short bright green hair, as well as red eyes. She wore a slightly revealing outfit, and had two large pistols holstered. Beside her, there was a boy with short dark gray hair and gray eyes. He wore a simple gray and black uniform and wore unique looking boots.

"So, Gunslinger. Do you know why a man such as yourself is still here?" Cinder asked him with a smirk on her face.

"No ma'am, so suffice to say... I am pretty curious as to why you requested that I stay." Shin responded as he laid back in his seat.

"Shin, i've become impressed with your abilities. You may have just used them for a few seconds, but I heard the stories, the rumors."

"They say you've taken down twenty men with only six shots using only your revolver alone, they say you control the flames that are even hotter than the sun. They even say that you're Death itself, and that revolver of yours is your scythe." She continued. Cinder then looked up at Shin and simply walked towards him, the sounds of her heels clacked against the floor as she did. Shin only got up, observing his employer, who still had a smirk on her face. The woman looked into the Hunter's helmet, and into it's cold black visor.

"You've killed hundreds of men, stole from many, all on your own... you, and that weapon."

"What's the point, Cinder?" Shin asked. He watched as she simply caressed his chest plate like she did on the bullhead and reached for his hood, the hood that covered a majority of his helmet but as her hand reached for it, he only gripped her hand- tightly.

_"She shouldn't have done that,"_ Texas remarked quietly.

"May I?" Cinder requested, that flirtatious smirk still on her face, and it was convincing enough to Shin, and so he let her.

She pulled his hood down, and then reached for his helmet, and took that off slowly.

What Cinder saw was the face of a man- a man who appeared to be in his thirties with long blonde hair, all put in a nice low ponytail. He had several scars on his face, and had the brightest green eyes she'd seen but she looked within those bright eyes, deep within what she saw pleased her.

This was the face of a man who'd seen thousands if not millions of horrors, who'd done thousands of awful things and killed a great deal of people. Deep down, she could tell that he was a cold and heartless murderer when it came down to it, and that was something she liked, something she desired in an ally.

"You're just what I need," Cinder said, gently caressing the man's cheek and then she stopped.

"Shin Malphur, I have an offer for you." She spoke. Shin looked at her, curious as to what she could offer the man.

"I belong with a... certain group of people. We have plans to change Remnant for the better, and we could use a man with talents like yours, we're low on those kinds of people, and we're desperately needing those talents."

"If you join us, Shin. You will live like a king whenever we change this planet for the better, no longer will you have to be a thief, or an outlaw. By the end of all of this, you'll be treated like a hero." She said.

"Please, Shin. Join us," Cinder requested.

_"What do you think we should do, Shin?"_ Texas asked. There was no verbal response from Shin, who only put his helmet and hood back on.

"Thank you for the offer, Cinder... but i'm afraid i'll have to decline that offer." He finally said after silence which lasted for what felt like hours.

Roman, and the two individuals with Cinder and even Cinder herself all were surprised, eyes wide and shocked with the response.

"I'm on this rock for only one reason, I have a man to hunt down and kill, a man filled with nothing but dark and death. I'll be honest, I don't care about this planet, the people seem to have things going good for them, despite the fact that Grimm are roaming around all the damn time." The Hunter said.

"Is that so? This man is so important that you'll decline this offer-" Cinder said until Shin interrupted her before she could finish her sentence,

"To potentially live like a king? Yes ma'am, I will. The people have things handled here, we shouldn't fix what's not broken." He said.

"You wanna change Remnant? How about you start working with Faunus activists or something like that, I hear the Faunus are oppressed all the time, throwing prejudice against them in the grave seems like a good change."

The room went silent for a while, and Cinder gave a sigh of disappointment.

"I see then," She said.

"Now that's out of the way... I believe I was promised a hefty amount of payment, was I not?" Shin asked.

"Yes, you were. Mercury, be a dear and get the man his payment." Cinder ordered. The boy in gray nodded and grabbed two large cases and brought them over to Shin, who opened them. Both boxes were _filled_ with lien.

_"This is a lot of lien... i'm curious as to who Cinder's benefactor is."_ Texas said.

"How much is a lot?" Shin questioned within the private commlink.

_"About four million all together,"_

"Son of a bitch... all for a simple robbery,"

_"Shin, I know you don't like the idea of working with them after what happened, but with all of this money who knows what else they have? They may have the resources to find Dredgen Timor."_ The Ghost said.

Shin looked at the money and made a sharp whistle.

"All for a simple robbery," He spoke aloud this time and then looked at Cinder.

"If you have this much cash... you most likely have other resources, don't you?" Asked Shin. Cinder smiled as she heard this, obviously the man was reconsidering.

"Yes, actually. We have everything we need to get our objectives done. From information brokers, to assassins, to even using The White Fang as a paramilitary organization." She said.

"So you may be able to track the man I want dead," Shin responded.

"If that's what it takes for you to join us, then yes. We'll gladly assist you in any way possible, just as long as you show loyalty to us." Cinder spoke.

"I'll reconsider your offer then, Cinder." Said Shin as he took the cases and began walking off. He turned his head at her, a smile under his helmet.

"I'll contact Roman if I decide to join, depending if the offer is still on the table by then."

"Don't keep us waiting, Shin... i'm a very impatient woman."

"Of course," The Gunslinger said as he finally walked off, leaving the warehouse.

* * *

Ozpin walked over to the crime scene. He demanded that he be left alone when investigating, he wanted to do this himself especially after what Glynda told him.

_"It seems the myths about the legendary Gunslinger are true... he formed a gun made out of fire and it shot blazing bullets as well, Ozpin. None of them hit me, but I could feel the heat off of them trying to burn through my skin and aura."_ Was what she told him. He knew this feeling all to well...

The feeling of energy from the sun, he knew what that felt like- used it at one point, oh so long ago. Back when he was a different man, a cruel man who only knew how to kill. When he was nothing but a mad king, and a crazed butcher who was mad with power.

"Those days are gone now... let's focus on the matter at hand," He told himself, getting those memories out of his head.

He began looking at the ground, there were several scorch marks and he began placing his hand over them, he could still feel a tiny bit of heat from these marks, obviously these were the blasts from one of the assailants, the one whom he could only guess was the new Fall Maiden, the woman who stole those powers from Amber. He then walked over to a new scorch mark, one that looked different from the rest and as he placed his hand over the mark, heat began searing his hand. He winced in pain as he moved his hand away, his body quickly began healing itself and he stared at the mark, this time in fear.

"An Iron Lord is here..." Ozpin muttered as he finally sat down, and then remembered something.

Iron Lords were heroes, they along with Ozpin killed The Warlords of old. They were noble, and just. Everything that a heroic huntsman wanted to be like. Yet, here was this Iron Lord working with the likes of Roman Torchwick, who was a criminal.

"They would be ashamed," The Headmaster remarked. Not just of the way he had lived, but also by this man, this rogue wolf.

The man sighed as he got up, remembering back to the days of old. When he wasn't a Headmaster, but a former Warlord and now, Iron Lord. An Iron Lord named Oz. The only Iron Lord that left, left only because he believed it was the punishment he deserved, and probably the only Lord who willingly cut himself off from the light. Now, all he was, was a man who could live forever, he was what all men and women wanted to be- an immortal.

An immortal who could survive long and hard falls, but an immortal nonetheless. He tightly gripped on his cane, the cane which held his sword, an old Fallen Shock Sabre which he named Kell's End. He hadn't drew the sword in many many years, the last time he drew it was...

Was...

It took a while for Ozpin to remember when he last drew the sword, and the memory finally came to him. It was during The Great War, when he was at one point The King Of Vale, who faked his own death and t. Now, he was going to have to draw it again. He would need this sword in order to kill this Iron Lord, and he hoped that was all he could ever need to kill this rogue warrior. He got up, and drew the sword, this was one of the few Fallen Sabre's, a rarity in his day and a Kell Of Kings wielded it, and slaughtered many Iron Wolves and Lords with it, and here stood Ozpin- doing what any Fallen or Warlord would love to do.

He was going to murder an Iron Wolf.

* * *

Shin walked into his ship, _The Indelible VI_. He stared at his small armory, neat Vanguard weapons that Cayde had managed to get into the ship. There was the auto rifle known as Shadow Price, the trademark sniper rifle that practically every elite Hunter had used, Stillpiercer. JabberHakke-D, a well known sidearm made by Hakke themselves, The Ash Factory Rocket Launcher, as well as a heavy machine gun, which Shin could hardly remember, Zombie Apocalypse? He shrugged as he looked through the weapons, and he stared at The Comedian, a shotgun that every Guardian within the Vanguard's good graces loved and enjoyed using.

"Texas, play the Crucible footage again." He ordered his Ghost.

"Of course!" The drone said happily as it soon appeared over Shin's shoulder. It quickly began playing the footage using it's eye, like a Pre-Golden Age projector. He stared at the scene, and watched Sylas, wearing the same dark black and green armor. At first the Crucible match was going normally, a simple match of Clash. Shin noticed Sylas's skill very quickly, within the first five minutes and he hadn't died _once_. He danced around the other Guardian's, only being a black and green blur in the footage. However, when the heavy ammo was dropped... that's when things changed, that's when Sylas holstered his hand cannon.

* * *

"Sylas, you gonna show off that new cool sword of yours?" A nearby Titan asked and The Hunter looked at the Titan.

"Yeah... you're gonna see how cool it is." He said.

"And you're gonna feel it,"

The Titan turned towards Sylas and before he could react, the Hunter took his sword and plunged it deep into the Titan's chest.

"She hungers for light!" The Hunter laughed as he did so, his cackling was heard on all the camera feeds.

Shin stared at the sword, the color of the blade and the hilt were both a disgusting pitch black, and the hilt had bright green runes on it. Runes which Shin understood.

"FEAST" The runes translated.

Soon, the energy of the light began pouring from the body of the Titan, along with his blood. The sword simply began absorbing every particle of light, and his cackling was only louder as the sword began it's process.

"No!" The Guardian's ghost cried out, finally appearing but Sylas simply took the blade out and slashed the drone in half, and as he done so the machine detonated- a large explosion of light filled the room, but it was soon absorbed by The Lighteater.

"More... she wants more!" Cried Sylas and as soon as he said that, Arc Energy began flowing through his body and the sword lit up with bright blue electricity. The Hunter took off with a running start. His blade crackled with arc energy. Soon two Guardian's ran, submachine guns in their hands.

"Shit, Sylas just murdered Aegis!" A Warlock known as Tenya cried out.

"Ah yes, The Warlock is here! More light for my blade!" Sylas screamed. Tenya drew a sword of her own, and tried to swing, but the rogue hunter only swung his arm at her sword hand, easily slicing it off. Before she could even swing in pain, Sylas sent a horizontal slice, cutting into her throat. The sword quickly absorbed the light energy and the Hunter cackled as he saw this, more and more power was going into this sword.

"Hey asshole!" Shouted a man with a Russian accent. Shin knew this voice all to well. Alexi Zemlanska, the leader of Fireteam Maria, The Conqueror Of The Black Garden, Slayer Of Kells and Gods, and Hero Of The Red War and who knew what other nickname he was given.

Alexi stood, wearing the Vanguard Dare armorset, a gift given to him by Shin himself and the man also wielded Gjallarhorn, a fearsome rocket launcher that was given to either the most successful and heroic Guardian's, or to those who fought at the Battle Of Twilight Gap.

"Have a taste of this you prick!" He cried, pulling the trigger of the rocket launcher. The rocket flew at Sylas, the tracking cluster bombs also did their job, creating more explosions that were aimed at their target. The only thing that was left was smoke

"Fireteam Maria, keep your guns trained on that smoke. I'm not seeing a body, and that's kind of worrying." Alexi spoke through the comm's.

Hours had went by and there was nothing, the smoke had cleared and there was no body. Shin only switched camera's and it was obvious that Sylas was escaping.

"Fireteam Maria, stand down! We got Redjacks being sent after Sylas, but I repeat, stand down and stay away! That sword will drain the light out of you!" Cried Lord Shaxx, The Crucible Handler over the comm's.

"Focus on securing the area, I will meet you shortly." The Titan said.

* * *

The footage ended there, and Shin simply sighed. He couldn't get anything new out of it, no matter how many times he tried. He had watched a few other Crucible videos, before Sylas got this sword, this... Light Eater.

Cayde was right, he was a very skilled Bladedancer and an impressive swordsman. Though, Shin saw the signs.

Sylas was absolutely psychotic, he enjoyed The Crucible, not because he had a love for battle, or competition.

But because he loved to kill. He had loved every second of his matches, because he had killed Guardians. He loved the sport of murder, it was even noted in his psychological evaluation which was done by his Ghost. Sylas was a murderer, and he loved every bit of it. Then he got this Lighteater, and everything appeared to have changed...

Just like it did with Dredgen Yor and his Rose.

Shin shook his head, Dredgen was gone. He can't cause anymore harm, he can't take anymore lives.

"Why do you think Sylas is here?" Texas finally asked.

"I don't know, Texas..." Muttered Shin.

"I don't know,"

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed the fic! I decided to put this AN here because it's gonna be a bit long one and will detail a bit of personal things. I do also wish to apologize for the long wait, i'm kind of a lazy ass with my fics, while writing is something I enjoy doing it's not something I really do all the time. Anyways, i'll get to the point as to why I am writing this.
> 
> I'm not sure if all of you are aware of this, but I have been working on enlisting into the US Military. I ship out in early June and I also had to deal with MEPS twice (Had to go again due to a slight medical condition, nothing serious) but it did strain my writing time, and so will me eventually leaving for service. It's gonna be a long ass while, but it's something I felt as if I needed to tell all of you guys in case if you ask "AYE MRJACK WHY AREN'T YOU WRITING ANYMORE YOU LAZY PIECE OF SHIT?" Or something along those lines.
> 
> Thank you for reading this fic, as well as this AN. Everyone's support means a lot to me, and i'm glad that I have a bunch of readers. You guys make me wanna be the best writer I can possibly be. So, thank you. Thank you guys for everything, and hopefully you'll stick around for even more (probably shitty no matter how hard I try lmao) fanfics from me.
> 
> -HeyMrJack
> 
> P.S
> 
> Indelible VI is a reference to something, whoever answers it well, idk. I'll think of something cool to do for em. Hint? It's from a sci-fi novel.


	3. Chapter 3

The man once known as Sylas, now known as Dredgen Timor stood over the bodies of an innocent family. It wasn't complete, however. All there was were two daughters, a son, and a mother. Now, where was the father? The former Guardian pondered as to the location of the father, though his thoughts were interrupted as he heard a loud slam, the door was open and there stood the father in basic clothing and wielding a hefty broadsword.

"You bastard! That was my family you killed you son of a bitch!" He screamed.

"Coming from the guy who wasted hours searching for a broadsword while the killer was carving his kids and wife up," Timor said with a smile under his dark helmet. The husband screamed in rage and charged at the wielder of darkness. He brought the sword over his head and swung downwards onto Timor, hoping to chop his opponent in two, however, the murderer simply brought up The Lighteater, his sword which was forged from nothing but death and darkness and he easily cut the blade into two with his own sword of death.

"Congratulations, sir! You went from a sword to a knife!" Cheerfully shouted Timor. The Hunter was taking great pleasure in this, he was taking pleasure in all of it. The violence, the carnage... it was so relieving. Even better, the man stared at Timor in fear. That was much better, he preferred it when the victim was in place instead of running.

"P-Please..." Stuttered the husband. "Don't kill me," He pleaded. His body was shaking, and he fell over, he was in awe by the great strength that this murderer had.

"Now, now... don't you want to see the rest of your family?" Asked Timor, dragging his dark blade across the floor. The husband began crawling backward, trying to find some form of safety, however, it was no use. There was no way the man could get out.

"Don't worry," Whispered Timor, he began walking towards the weakened man, still dragging his Lighteater across the floor. The former Guardian could hear it, he could hear the whispers. The whispers of another dead language, no, he couldn't hear it.

He could feel it.

They spoke words, words which Timor felt the meaning of. They were all saying the same things over, and over, and over again.

**_"Let us feast,"_ **

**_"Bring death, bring carnage."_ **

**_"We starve, feed us."_ **

**_"BRING SHADOW TO ALL!"_ **

Their speaking grew louder and louder, he could feel the words from The Lighteater crawling in his mind as if they were spiders crawling in his head. The Shadow Of Yor brought up his sword and proceeded to thrust it into the man's stomach. The blade began eating through all of his aura, he could feel the blade feasting. It was already apparent that this man was most likely one of the village's defenders, his lack of skill proved that it was why The Lighteater was in this man's stomach. As the blade fed on this man's aura, Sylas began feeling more and more relaxed, it was as if a great burden was being lifted from his shoulders. He was feeling something that... he never normally felt. Peace.

He took the blade out of the man, and cleaned the blood off the blade and proceeded to sheath it. His hunger, the blade's hunger... vanished. He stared at the father, slumped over and dead, finally at peace for only a few moments and then walked off.

He exited the home they lived in and stared at the village he was in, there had been corpses everywhere. Dredgen Timor had slaughtered this entire village for only two reasons.

The first was to improve his swordsmanship, he needed to be extra ready for whatever huntsman or huntress would come after him, or even worse, a Guardian. Though, he wouldn't mind facing off against a Guardian. He wanted a challenge, he hadn't had one in so long and his sword would appreciate the extra light it could feast on and the second reason well...

There was a price to wielding this sword and it's awesome power, it craved the light. It wanted to feast upon it, make it it's own and then turn it into the dark. Sylas could even channel the light through this sword, allowing him to still perform abilities that other Guardian's could do and also perform abilities from the dark. It made him powerful, and he was glad.

He wondered, however, and couldn't help but continue asking the same question that he'd been asking himself for five years.

These men and women on this pathetic rock used something called "Aura." It was not like the light, yet The Lighteater feasted on it. Its hunger was soothed each time someone with an aura was killed, and he wondered what made this so special. Was this some form of the light that anyone could use? He continued asking himself questions and would attempt to answer them, to theorize. It was as if he was a Warlock who discovered something new about The Light, or about a new weapon, or a Cryptarch when finding some new Engram they were having a hard time decrypting. Those thoughts soon came to an end, as the sword began speaking once more...

_"We must come to our mistress,"_ It spoke in its dead language. Dredgen Timor simply began walking off, away from the now destroyed village. He wondered who this mistress was, the sword he believed was Hive in origin, judging by the runes anyway. Was this "mistress" some forsaken Hive witch? If so, what was she doing so far from Earth's solar system?

Why was she here?

* * *

Shin Malphur had left his ship, he simply went in to re-watch the video and to make sure everything was in working condition. _The Indelible VI_ was of course, in perfect shape. He always made sure to take good care of her, it was one of the few things that his mentor, Jaren Ward had left him. At first, the ship was a rusty brown and gold pile of junk but... after a lot of years of work, Shin had managed to make the Echo Class jump-ship look like a brand new ship, things got better when Shin and Texas managed to install an NLS drive, allowing the ship to go anywhere. He smiled at the memories... and he also wondered, would Jaren be proud of him?

"Thinking again, are we?" Asked Texas, who popped out of seemingly nowhere. He stared at the Ghost for a minute, taking in the familiar dark golden shell it always wore, it's design was seemingly based off The Last Word and Shin could only imagine that Jaren had made it for his partner.

"You wonder if we're doing the right thing?" Shin questioned.

"What do you mean? Of course, we are, Timor's one of the many Disciples Of Yor who's gone crazy-" Shin interrupted Texas before he could say any more,

"Not that, I know that putting this bastard down is right. I mean, are we doing the right thing on this planet?" Shin asked.

"After what happened today... I don't think I can be an outlaw anymore, Roman went too far with this job and that woman with him is insane." The Hunter said.

"We went after corrupt officials, we killed people everyone thought were innocent but were in all reality, piles of garbage."

"What are you saying?" Texas asked.

"I think it's time we drop this Outlaw motif, we've gone too far. We were the guilty ones this time." Shin said.

"We threatened and stole from an innocent man, and yeah we've had to do some bad things but in the end, we did the right thing... but this? This ain't leading up to nothin," He finished.

"Well... if that's what you want, I won't argue. But, what about Cinder and Roman?" Asked Texas.

"They ain't the priority, but I wouldn't mind doing the right thing again... those two need to be stopped, especially if they're rilin up The White Fang," Shin said. He remembered what The White Fang once were, he came to Remnant in their final more "peaceful" years. Now, they were a paramilitary organization, they claimed they fought for "equality" but as of recently, they've been following the orders of Adam Taurus. A man who lead the Vale Cell of The White Fang and also was the most violent and brutal of men, he heard the stories, how the leader would cut down families as to show an "example" of what would happen to those who would oppress the faunus. How he would always make sure to leave no survivors in his wake when he attacked dust factories made by the Schnee Dust Corporation.

It was absolutely disgusting.

And Shin had contemplated working with Cinder, a woman who was using them for well, who knows what she was capable of. He felt absolutely disgusted with himself, for even considering that-

_BREET!_

_BREET!_

_BREET!_

"The hell is that?" Shin asked.

"The ship's proximity alarms! I'll take a look at what's going on," Texas said as he quickly went inside the ship, then a second later transmatted out.

"We have one person approaching... I don't like it, I think he knows we're here." The Ghost said. Shin simply pulled out The Last Word, his HUD showed that the weapon was fully loaded but he made sure that there were in fact, eight rounds in the cylinder. After doing so, he crouched down and began hunting for this intruder. Texas quickly went into Shin's pack- making sure to keep himself hidden from whatever enemy was approaching.

* * *

Ozpin held his cane tightly, he looked around The Emerald Forest and saw how little amounts of Grimm there were, this was very unusual. The Grimm were always in The Emerald Forest and now... it was if something had been hunting them down, there were very minimal amounts of the creatures of darkness when once, there had been hundreds. His hunch was right then, his target, The Warlord would be here. The Emerald Forest would be a perfect place to land at, nobody really went to it other than the students and Beacon Academy's sensors would most likely never be able to identify any ships such as the ones from Earth. Sure, they could pick up a rogue bullhead or an airship filled with nothing but cutthroats and murderers, but a ship from Earth? Well, those were two different things. The only question that appeared in his mind was "how" did they land without being spotted by the common eye. Surely someone would have seen a large spaceship fly into the forest, and why had it not been discovered? Some student must have had wild claims, claims that would probably go along the lines of "I saw an alien!" or "I saw a UFO land in The Emerald Forest!"

This worried him, greatly. Whoever landed here managed to do so while being undetected, and if they landed in this place of all things, then it means they were seeking for...

For nothing but darkness, most likely. Damn did he wish he had his old armor, he could quickly pick up the Warlord's location and quickly eliminate him before the situation escalated then... then maybe hide the ship, yes. He would do just that. Ozpin checked Rechs, the faithful handcannon was loaded and prepared to kill, it always was. The previous owner had made sure that no matter what, Rechs would always function.

He pulled the sidearm out of his coat pocket and crouched down. If he were in this Warlord's position, he'd raze the entire forest at the slightest sight of trouble. It was excessive, but that's how things were back then. Warlords and even Iron Lords would do nothing but destroy everything in sight in order to kill one man. Absolute violence and carnage, men and women would use whatever they could to kill the other, whether it be their bare hands or the light or some blade or rifle.

Yes, that's how things were and always would be... absolute destruction. He began crawling through the forest, pistol in hand and he carefully moved his spectacles, keeping them from falling onto the ground.

"You can come out now! I know you're here!" A voice cried out. The voice of this rogue wolf noted Ozpin.

"Come out now with your hands up and you will not be harmed." Demanded the voice. Of course, the only response was silence. Ozpin checked the magazine once more for Rechs, continuing to make sure that the weapon was in fact loaded with a full magazine and then clicked the safety off. It was now or never, he had only one life this time meaning he needed to be extra careful...

"If you don't come out, then I'll make you!" The voice screamed.

"Three!"

Ozpin finally got a sight on the target, he stood around holding a large golden revolver and wore bronze colored armor with a strange leather cloak, it looked strange. He never saw any Warlord or Iron Lord wear anything like that. Most of the time, they took pelts off of animals and put them onto their own custom made armor but this... this was something different. This armor looked heavily modified and it was very clean. It wasn't like it was new... but it certainly wasn't developed by this man.

More memories resurfaced and Ozpin remembered how he had to clean and refurbish old golden age combat uniforms during his time as a Warlord.

"Two!"

Ozpin finally sighed and let the man he wanted to forget take control, The Warlord who knew no mercy and was nothing more than a cutthroat. He held Rechs tightly and before the man could scream "Three!" The man jumped out of his cover, drawing Kell's End from its sheath and began firing his hand cannon.

* * *

Shin Malphur was surprised to see someone had for once, listened to his demands. However, what he didn't expect was that someone would come out shooting at him. The Hunter had no choice but to take cover behind _The Indelible VI_ to avoid the powerful shots.

"Who the hell is that? I couldn't get a good look at him!" Cried The Guardian.

" _That's Professor Ozpin!"_ Texas responded.

"The Headmaster of Beacon Academy? What the hell!"

"Do you have nothing better to do than cower behind your ship and partner up with criminals, Warlord?" Called out the huntsman.

"Warlord?" Shin quietly asked his Ghost.

" _I... don't know what he's referring to,"_ Said the Ghost.

"I don't know what you're on about, pal... but I ain't with any criminal," Shin said as he finally got out of cover, drawing The Last Word and fan-fired the powerful weapon.

_BANG BANG BANG BANG!_

Ozpin simply cut the bullets with ease using his sabre, which Shin did get a good look at.

"Texas, why does Ozpin have a rare Fallen weapon in his hand?" He asked. The weapon was a Fallen sabre, a weapon that only Kells would use. There weren't that many left, and thus most Kells simply now used customized cutlasses or shrapnel launchers. It amazed Shin that this man was using this weapon.

"Alright, ol' timer... where'd you get that sabre?" Asked The Hunter. Ozpin gave no response and instead drew a hand cannon that was a bright and beautiful shining silver and then flicked a switch on it. He calmly aimed at his opponent and pulled the trigger.

_RAKTATATATATATATATATATATATATA!_

Shin rolled over and began fleeing from the bullet fire all while firing at Oz with The Last Word. It was a spectacle of gunfire, with none of them being able to hit their target.

_RAKTATATATATATATATATA!_

_BANG BANG BANG BANG!_

Bullets continued whizzing past both attackers, but they didn't acknowledge them. The only thing that they acknowledged was that their enemy was alive and they were going to do nothing until they were taken down.

" _Wait a second, Shin..."_ Texas said.

"What is it, Tex?"

" _Ozpin has that sabre... and he called you a Warlord."_ He said.

"Yeah, and? What's that mean?"

" _Shin, I think Ozpin could have been an Iron Lord."_ Said The Ghost.

"But how? The only ones alive are Saladin and Efrideet!"

"Seems like we're gonna have to find out how he's alive the hard way, then..." Shin said as he simply reloaded his hand cannon and his HUD soon updated. He had 8 shells... 8 chances to take down The Headmaster Of Beacon Academy.

*********************

Ozpin reloaded Rechs swiftly and toggled it once again- this time setting it to burst fire. This Warlord... he was being very cautious, careful. It was obvious that this man was getting a read on his enemy, that or he was very stupid. It wasn't the first time he murdered some Warlord who thought that despite his lack of combat experience, that he was king of the world.

No, Ozpin murdered many... the stupid, and also those who were so strong that it took weeks for the man to simply kill them in single combat. Yes, that was the way things were and it appeared that those things still had not changed back home.

Oz would murder this man and make sure to warn _all_ of Earth that if they were to ever touch Remnant, he would kill them as well. Not one person or thing would ever harm Remnant again, the planet had been in peace for so long... he was going to keep that peace, no matter what!

Soon the man heard the shuffling of bushes and he quickly began firing once again, however, he missed. The Warlord leaped out of cover and fired his golden revolver. Using Kell's End, Ozpin deflected the bullets but one stray bullet managed to knock Rechs out of his hand. The man continued running towards Oz, firing The Last Word still but it was to no avail as Ozpin simply cut down the bullets.

It took years for Oz to learn that trick, to cut a bullet. Not many people could actually do it, at least when he was on Earth. It took some very good reflexes and skill with the blade to actually perform such a feat. He couldn't remember many Iron Lords who could do that, he was sure that Saladin was able to perform such a feat but he couldn't remember for the life of him...

Ozpin simply waited for the right moment to strike. A lethal two strikes, something that would put down any man... He, and many Warlords and Iron Lords alike did that. Anyone who wielded a sword of any kind always performed those two strikes when the shields of an enemy were down, or if they were a competent sword fighter.

As this Warlord drew closer and closer, Ozpin finally channeled his own inner Warlord and like a vicious scorpion, he struck. He powered the blade with its arc energy and it made a sickening crackle as Ozpin swung his blade with nothing but skill and killing intent.

***************************

Shin fell to the ground, Ozpin had in a swift sickening motion not only managed to shatter his energy shields with the sabre but also sliced his left wrist and his knee. He fell in an instant, dropping his hand cannon in the process but he smiled under his helmet... he remembered hearing words that Jaren told him once upon a time, words that Shin always kept in mind.

"Sometimes... you gotta take a major risk in order to win," The Hunter told him.

Shin always remembered and held those words in such high regard. The man was soon kicked over, his visor stared into the face of Professor Ozpin who had the look of a cold hearted murderer.

"Any last words, Warlord?" Asked the Headmaster.

"Yeah..." Shin said as he swiftly grabbed The Last Word and aimed it at the chest of the man, and channeled his inner gunslinger, imbuing the powerful weapon with solar energy. It became the _true_ golden gun, the thing that every Guardian always talked about when they referenced his name.

"Yours, not mine!" Shouted Shin Malphur and he pulled the trigger. A powerful solar bullet flew from the weapon and hit Ozpin square in the chest, sending him flying. The man soon hit the ground head first- _hard_ and Shin managed to finally get up. His wounds were quickly being healed by Texas.

"Did you kill him?" Asked The Ghost, finally appearing out of Shin's pack.

"No, I put enough solar energy in to knock him out. He ain't dead, but he sure as hell is gonna complain when he wakes up." Said The Hunter.

"Make sure to get some restraints on him, and bring me those two weapons of his. I wanna take a look at em," Shin ordered and The Ghost quickly began doing as he was told.

* * *

Dredgen Timor finally reached it, he was in a cave and there was no light... only darkness. Even the night vision had a hard time working, and he wished that he had his Ghost with him. It could create light so bright that it would cut through the darkest of places.

But he killed it, murdered it. Its voice had grown to annoy him, it's constant pleading for him to stop... but he would never stop. That stupid machine was his first victim with the Lighteater.

" _We come closer, we come closer!"_ He felt his sword say. It felt... cheerful, happy. Happy that it was coming closer and closer towards its destination. The blade began guiding him and he followed it, even if he couldn't see where he was going he followed the trail that the sword created. His HUD began lighting up quickly, the radars were detecting lifeforms and they were all moving... following him.

" _Friends, friends!"_ The sword spoke. As if the creatures that stalked him were just friendly. Timor simply walked and walked, until he reached his destination.

" _WE ARE HERE!"_ It shouted, soon Timor's mind was filled with nothing but... joy. Joy now, yes. Then his mind was invaded, he could feel it. As if someone took a drill and shoved it into his brain! He let out a scream of pain and collapsed onto the floor, holding his head.

" _Hello there,"_ A voice calmly spoke into his mind.

"Who... are you?" Asked Timor.

" _Dredgen Timor... it is an honor to be meeting you here. The Deep guided you to me, my perfect soldier."_ Said the voice.

It was a feminine voice, and it sounded so human... she was no Hive, that was for sure.

"What do you mean?" Asked Timor.

"Why do you sound human, what are you?" Cried The Dredgen.

" _Now, now... all will be revealed soon, my soldier."_ She said.

" _Turn to your left, you will see a pool."_ The voice simply spoke and Timor did so, getting up and he stared at this... pool. It was filled with nothing but black as if it were disgusting sludge.

"What is this?" He asked.

"It is what you call The Darkness in another form," She spoke.

"Why was I brought here?" Asked Timor.

" _Simple Sylas, Dredgen Timor... you were brought here to fight another war, a war very important."_ The voice said.

" _Like I, you have understood that The Deep, The Darkness is much more powerful than The Light. Darkness consuming Light is the way things must be. There is a war here on Remnant, and with the help of those you call The Hive and The Deep itself, I crafted this holy blade for you but there is one more thing you must do..."_ She said.

" _You must take your hand cannon, the last thing that makes you a 'Guardian' and you must put it in this pit, only then will you become truly one with the dark."_ She said.

_"You've come this far, and you can go beyond. Do it and become one with The Deep. You will be the true voice that humanity hears, a speaker of The Dark!"_ She cried.

Timor got up and the Hunter slowly walked towards the pool, grabbing his hand cannon- The Better Devils. It was the first-hand cannon he'd ever received, a gift from Cayde-Six. Now, he was going to throw it away. He was going to be a more powerful being.

" _No, don't do it!"_ Screamed a voice, a voice that was so familiar... the voice of the amazing Bladedancer, Sylas Karn, the man who he once was.

" _She's evil, if you do it you'll forsake everything and everyone!"_ He shouted. Timor simply ignored the man's pleas. Sylas Karn was dead, all that was left was Dredgen Timor.

As Timor continued walking towards the pool, the voices of Sylas grew louder and louder. His pleas were unending, he shouted and shouted and then another voice began pleading with him.

" _Please, stop Sylas! You can stop this, you can still be forgiven!"_ The voice of Prisma, his former Ghost cried. But he didn't stop. He continued walking and as soon as he reached this pit... he grabbed his hand cannon and calmly dropped it.

In an instant, the pit let out a green blast of energy, pushing Timor back onto the floor and he watched and listened as sickening noises were made. As this went on, the sounds of howling were heard, and monstrous roaring. The creatures that had been following Timor were reacting as if they were pleased and then his sword let out a loud cackle in his mind and began screaming,

_**"YOU ARE MINE AND I AM YOURS!"** _

_**"YOU ARE MINE AND I AM YOURS!"** _

_**"YOU ARE MINE AND I AM YOURS!"** _

The sword kept on screaming this, laughing at the prospect, and soon... all of the noises stopped, the sword finally went silent.

The hand cannon soon was raised once more, out of the pit but it was different. It was transformed into something completely different, and then Timor walked back up to the portal

This weapon was in his hands now, and he recognized it very well. As he got up, he heard the sounds of howling and in an instant, the cave lit up, it was bright enough that Timor could see. He stared at what had been following him, these were creatures of Grimm and there were tens if not hundreds of them, many of them were Beowulves who had been following their Alpha, and there were plenty of Ursi as well, all of them were bowing before him. Then, Timor gazed at the weapon again...

The weapon was black and disgusting. It had several jagged thorns coming out of it and had a green gem inside the weapon as well, and this exact weapon had been used long ago by a man much greater than Timor or any other Guardian, it was a weapon that was used by in Timor's mind- a man who understood the truth. That darkness was always greater than light, and that The Traveler was just a weak shell. This weapon... was used by Dredgen Yor.

This weapon was Thorn. Finally, Dredgen Timor spoke and asked a simple question.

"Who are you?" He asked. There was nothing but silence now, no noise was heard and it lasted for what felt like a lifetime...

" _Salem,"_

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Shin was amazed at what he was inspecting... in fact, he was so amazed that his jaw had dropped upon simply staring at the gun that Ozpin had used.

"Texas, have you ever seen anything like this?" Asked The Guardian.

"No, nothing like this..." Said the Ghost who was also amazed. The two were up all night just looking through Ozpin's weapons.

"This weapon would be a sidearm under Vanguard classifications, but this thing... it hits like a hand cannon yet it can fire like an auto-rifle. Seriously, this thing can fire in semi, burst, and auto!" Shin said, becoming more and more excited, he was about as excited as a child who just got his presents during The Dawning.

"And even more... the ammo this thing fires, it's a wonder how the barrel doesn't melt from how powerful it is!" He said as he took out a magazine, which was loaded with 30 unstable solar rounds or at least he was sure it was unstable, to be honest... he wasn't sure but he knew they were very volatile, the things were practically a ticking time bomb and it amazed how the ammo didn't simply explode in the weapon.

"This thing's probably been in use for centuries and look at it, Texas! It's still lookin like it's brand new!" He shouted as he showed the weapon off.

It was a large heavy silver pistol, larger than any kind of hand cannon or sidearm that Shin had ever seen, and it had a large heavy barrel as well. The weapon was also clean, very clean in fact. It looked as if it had just come out of one of the weapon factories that resided within the city.

Shin proceeded to load the magazine into the weapon and then place it down, deciding he was done inspecting the old and powerful weapon and went to inspect the Fallen Sabre that Ozpin had used. It wasn't anything majorly special as it functioned exactly like the Fallen's Arc Cutlass but seeing one... it was an absolute rarity.

The Fallen Sabre was nothing like the sabers used by ancient humanity. It had a curved blade, yes, but it possessed no handguard and the length was shorter. It appeared that Ozpin had been hiding this weapon in his cane and not only that, Shin noticed that his unconscious foe had modified the weapon. Instead of the weapon constantly producing arc energy when it was brought out, the weapon had a switch which activated a short burst of arc energy. It was so powerful that Shin thought the weapon couldn't possibly be stable enough to deal with so much power, but Ozpin had somehow managed to make it work.

"Texas, any luck with the search?" Asked Shin.

"Yeah, actually... and I think my theory is sound." Said The Ghost.

"Put it up on the console," The Hunter responded as he glanced at the unconscious Ozpin, still handcuffed then looked back at the console and saw a list of Iron Wolves and Iron Lords that were listed as KIA.

There were plenty of names, and there were two names labeled as "MISSING"

"Lady Efrideet's status needs to be changed," Said Shin.

"Yes, but look under it," Texas said and Shin's eyes widened.

"Oz... labeled as missing in action," The Hunter muttered and then looked back at Ozpin, who was still knocked out.

"Alrighty, so... how does an Iron Lord come all the way from Earth... to here?" Asked The Guardian who sat down.

"I don't know, I can't seem to detect any other ships." Said The Ghost.

"What about Ozpin? Take a look at him," Ordered Shin and Texas quickly went to Ozpin's resting spot and began scanning him...

"Nothing," Said the machine.

"So, he ain't a.. what was the term...? Risen?" Asked Shin.

"No, I mean I'm not getting anything off of him." The AI said.

"No light readings- at all." He continued and this made Shin curious.

"None whatsoever?" He asked as he began moving towards Texas and his prisoner, the Hunter was very curious now. Throughout his time on Remnant, Shin had come to learn that just about everyone had the light. It was a tiny sliver of it, they didn't even have as much light as Cinder Fall did but, the light did in fact flow through everyone on the planet. The idea that the Headmaster of a Huntsman academy didn't display this, meant that Ozpin was definitely foreign to this planet just like Shin was.

"If he was brought back by a Ghost, he cut himself off from the light entirely... he's like one of the Guardians who were affected by The Traveler's prison during The Red War." Said Texas.

"Explains why there's no aura to heal his wounds..." Shin said as he began inspecting the "cane" which acted as the saber's sheath. It was nothing special, though it was much more durable than Shin believed it to be. He suspected that it was that way to deal with bladed weapons, that or to better sheath the saber or the material used could have simply been a design choice.

"Texas, wake up our prisoner please," Shin ordered.

"Are we going to interrogate him?" Asked Texas.

"Indeed we are," Said The Hunter who pulled up a chair and sat in front of the sleeping warlord.

* * *

"This is it... are you ready?" Asked a familiar feminine voice. Oz smiled as he pulled out the source of the voice, his Ghost... his friend- no, his best friend, Sierra.

"I'm ready if you are," He said as he stared at what was in his mind, the prettiest ghost of them all. He took great pride in having Sierra as an ally, with his hands alone he managed to form her a shell that was made out of jade and silver and was coated with materials that would allow her to shrug off a few shots. It wasn't going to make her invincible, but she could take a few hits if things went wrong on reconnaissance missions.

"Well... let's go then, Iron Lord." She said as she soon transmatted back into his pack. The Iron Lord simply pulled out Rechs, the weapon shined ever so brightly and it made him smile.

"I'll make sure your dream is realized, old friend..." Muttered Oz as he then holstered the weapon and began walking in the snowy land towards his destination.

"The people you loved so much will live in peace, I'll make sure of it." He said as his old armor soon began appearing on his body.

It was light armor, worn by old Golden-Age and Pre-Golden Age militia groups. All of it was adorned in gray and dark green colors and soon a dark gray fur cloak wrapped around his body and then his helmet came on. His HUD quickly lit up and already, Lords Saladin and Felwinter were on the comms.

"Oz, are you reading us?" Asked Felwinter.

"Yes, I am. I just got out of Fort Tyrus, give me your location and I will be there." Said Oz. Soon, Sierra made a small chime from her Guardian's leather pack. In an instant, his HUD lit up with an indicator and Felwinter's location was displayed in Oz's helmet. The Iron Lord summoned his sparrow, an old rugged but a still useful mode of transportation. He boarded the vehicle and began speeding off.

It took only fifteen minutes to reach the location, that being Felwinter's home, his mountain. The mountain stood proud, and on that mountain were the other legendary Iron Lords. Oz managed to see the most powerful and oldest of Iron Lords, he saw the leader of the Iron Lords, Lord Radegast and by his side was Lady Perun. Lords Felwinter, Saladin, Skorri, Timur, Shaxx, and Gheleon were there as well as Lady's Efrideet, Deidris, and Bretomart.

"I have arrived," Oz calmly spoke. Lord Radegast looked at the newly arrived Oz and nodded.

"Good, now that all of the Iron Lords are here... we may go over our plan. This event will be our last battle against our fellow risen, and this here is the final Warlord, a man named Khan who has taken over a small part of Europe. He resides in France, and he's holed up in the old Notre Dame." Radegast said.

"We'll be traveling tomorrow night, and we should get to our destination within a week if all goes well." He continued. Everyone nodded, all the Iron Lords were eager to discuss the plan, the plan to put down the final Warlord.

"The plan to take down Khan is simple and, will require three teams. The first team shall be the attacking team, team one, you will be taking on Khan's forces. Only two of his men are Risen, while the rest are common militia who are all just as cruel if not worse than their leader." Lady Perun said, finally speaking up.

"The second team will make sure to take any and all civilians to safety, as well as defending the area from any incoming forces if Team One fails, Team Two will be responsible for evacuating the populace to an area far from Notre Dame." She explained and then continued onto the objective of the third team,

"Team Three, you all will take advantage of the chaos. With Team One taking on Khan's militia head on and Team Two keeping the population safe and defending our position, you will go into Notre Dame and assassinate Khan. Once that is complete, you will flank whatever forces that are still remaining and wipe them out."

"Are there any questions?" Perun asked, finishing her explanation.

"Who's going to be on what team?" Saladin asked.

"Team One will consist of "You, Shaxx, Skorri, Radegast, and myself."

"Team Two will consist of Efrideet, Gheleon, Bretomart, Timur, and Silimar."

"Team Three will consist of Oz, Deidris, and Felwinter." As Perun finished she looked at the rest of those whose names were not called out and spoke once more,

"Some of you will stay behind while we are away, someone has to defend the people here from Fallen and who knows what else. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am!" The Iron Lords all cried.

"Any further questions?" Asked Perun once more, finishing her explanation.

There were no further questions, and she nodded with a smile on her face.

"Good, everyone gets ready. This fight will be our last against our fellow man, and this will be the toughest fight of them all. Khan is merciless and is more brutal than anyone we've faced before. He's a menace, and _must_ be stopped." She said. After that, Oz started hearing something... something or someone was calling his name.

" _Wake up,"_ He heard.

" _Wake. Up!"_ He heard once again.

* * *

Ozpin woke up to the feeling of cold water being poured on his face, he shook his head and looked up, he was back in the present and no longer dreaming of the days of being Oz, The Iron Lord. Instead, he was Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy.

"Bout time you got yer sorry rear end up," The Warlord in front of him said. Ozpin glared and spat at his helmet.

"Go to hell, Warlord." He said with a venomous tone.

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't just do that... anyways, we kinda got off the wrong foot." The Risen said as he pulled up a chair and sat right in front of Ozpin.

"I'm no Warlord, in fact, the Warlords have been gone for _years_. Centuries, really." The man in front of him explained.

"I'm what you call a Guardian, yeah that's right no Iron Lord, Guardian." He continued as he took his helmet off.

"A Guardian?" Ozpin asked.

"Mhmm, yessiree."

Ozpin stared at the man, he didn't look too old, a man in his 30's with a few scars on his face and short blonde hair and bright blue eyes, but as Ozpin continued to stare... he could tell two things.

For one, this man was telling the truth and second of all?

He had seen some things, just like Oz had.

"See, The Iron Lords kinda... died off a way while back cause of something called SIVA-" Ozpin's eyes widened as he heard the Guardian speak and he quickly interrupted.

"What do you mean they, 'died off?'" He asked.

"I mean what I say, pal... ain't pulling your tail or nothin. Your former band of heroes went to find SIVA, instead, they found a merciless warmind named Rasputin and he killed just about everyone. The only survivors were Lord Saladin, Lord Shaxx, and Lady Efrideet." He explained.

"Anyways, after that... The Guardians were all formed and that's a long story to tell but in a nutshell? Iron Lords vanished, factions arose all believing they had humanities best interest in mind, wars started, and then us Guardian's ended them." Shin said.

"I... see," Ozpin said, the man sounded depressed and why wouldn't he be? His former friends that he fought and died with were gone, never to be seen again.

"How did you know I was an Iron Lord? Were you seeking me, Guardian?" Asked Ozpin, he was now curious as to why this man was here and The Guardian shook his head.

"No, I was not seeking you. Whenever you called me a Warlord, my Ghost here guessed that you may have been an Iron Lord or... some kinda Risen." The Guardian spoke.

"Went ahead and tried to see if you were, and whaddya know? According to The Iron Lord's and Vanguard's databases, there was an Iron Lord known as Oz!"

"I'm guessing that's you," He said.

"I am no longer that man, but since you know who I was... who are you?" Asked Ozpin.

"I am Shin Malphur, and this here... is Texas," Shin said, summoning a Ghost with a bronze colored shell and had the symbol of a cow skull painted on the side.

"Hello! A pleasure to meet you, and uh... apologies for the cold water. That was my idea," The Ghost said. Ozpin nodded at the Ghost, giving it a silent greeting and not minding the remark about cold water.

Shin got out of his seat and walked towards Ozpin, and crouched down. Taking out a key he began taking the handcuffs off which appeared to confuse the headmaster.

"You are aware I tried to kill you, yes?" He asked.

"Yup, but I know you won't try again... besides, I kicked your ass once, I can do it again," Shin responded. Ozpin chuckled.

"I was only caught off by that burning gun of yours, if I were to engage you once again, I would win, Mr. Malphur." He said.

"Normally I'd put that to the test but... you only have one life, I have too many to count."

"Speaking of... for someone being an Iron Lord, why can't you access the light anymore?" Asked Shin.

"I cut myself off from the light centuries ago," Ozpin simply said. Shin's eyes widened at the statement, someone willingly cut themselves off from the light, the power source for all Guardians, and for what purpose? The thought blew the gunslinger's mind, he had a hard time comprehending as to why anyone would do such a thing!

"Why the hell did you do that?" The Hunter asked, almost screaming. Why anyone would do something this stupid confused him.

"That, Shin... is for me to know, and only me," Ozpin said.

"And your Ghost? Where is it?" Shin asked.

"Buried," The Headmaster calmly replied. The Hunter was taken aback, not only did he cut himself off from the light, but he also buried his Ghost, his companion. Texas, despite being a machine not capable of showing emotion actually looked surprised and... angry? Shin couldn't exactly tell but he knew how Ghosts were, they trusted their respective Guardian and did nothing but love and assist them. For someone to simply say they "buried" their Ghost probably made Tex furious.

"I.. see," Shin spoke.

"Now, again. Mr. Malphur, why are you here on Remnant? This planet is very, _very_ far from Earth. If not to seek out a former Iron Lord, then for what?" Asked Ozpin who was now getting up.

"An... event happened back on Earth, it resulted in a Guardian taking up some sort of sword made from darkness and he killed several Guardians, drained them of their light and after that, he took off. Vanguard intelligence showed that he was coming to this planet for some reason." Shin explained.

"I've been ordered to hunt down this rogue Guardian and kill him before he does any more damage. I don't know what exactly is on this planet, but whatever he's here for? It's not good at all." He finished. Ozpin nodded and sighed, calmly speaking.

"You're not wrong... I think I know what he's here for, and it's not pretty." He said.

"He's here because a woman corrupted by the dark known only as Salem called him here, how she could have done such a thing, I do not know how but she's the reason why he's here," Ozpin said.

"Salem? Who is she?" Shin asked.

"Again, a woman corrupted by darkness. She's lived almost as long as I have, and she's powerful, cruel, and she is the one who created the Grimm." Ozpin explained.

"If anyone called this corrupted Guardian here, it was Salem." The Headmaster turned his head towards Shin and spoke,

"Meaning you're going to need my help taking down your corrupted friend, and I'm going to need your help saving Remnant," Ozpin said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all folks. Yeah, i'm back with an update. Things sadly didn't go well at basic, so here I am. Managed to finally finish this chapter up today, and now i'm free to do whatever on my birthday soo... happy birthday to me I guess. Anyways, I imagine people are going to be wondering what exactly is with Rechs and it's perk roll so, here it is! Also tried putting this in the nice Destiny 2 format, so there is some lore involved and yes, Rechs is a reference to a sci-fi novel as well, whoever can guess where it's from (and gets it right) i'll try and do something nice/special for them
> 
> Name: Rechs  
> Weapon Type: Solar Energy Hand Cannon  
> Description: Straight on 'til morning, oldest of friends...  
> Two perks are T-Rex and Legionnaire  
> T-Rex: The weapon fires solar bullets which create tiny explosions, when firing in semi-auto, every kill with this weapon causes the target to explode when they die  
> Legionnaire: This weapon can switch from full auto, burst fire, and semi auto. When in full auto or burst fire, the weapon has a much higher ROF but has less impact.
> 
> Lore
> 
> Tyrus stares at his friend, the man who he's fought with for so long, the man who's now been driven mad...
> 
> "You don't need to do this, Sullivan. We have it now, we have our way to establish peace." Says Tyrus, a man who wants to stop his friend who's nothing more than a tyrant and a Warlord.
> 
> "You don't understand, Tyrus! I can save us all, me! Not The Iron Lords! Join me, Tyrus and we can have humanity enter a second golden age! The Iron Lords are nothing but corrupt fools who will only grow to be Warlords, but i'm different!" Spouts Sullivan. Tyrus's eyes widen, and finally realizes it... there is no coming back for Sullivan.
> 
> "I'm so sorry, Sullivan..." Says Tyrus. Sullivan realizes what's about to happen and draws his hand cannon, but before he can already Tyrus draws his own and speaks before pulling the trigger,
> 
> "Goodbye, Sullivan. Second star from the right... straight on 'til morning, oldest of friends."


End file.
